TokyoTo Reborn
by The Lotus
Summary: CHAPTER 3 UP!! SURPRISE!!
1. Free Trip To Tokyo? COOOOOLLLLL

(A/N: Hello, everybody.  Since my first idea about this fic, it's since been heavily revised so it no longer reflects Crossing Over…as much…well, at least I don't think so ^ ^)

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It was 7:30, and already he was awake.  Staring sleepy-eyed at the Girls Gone Wild Infomercial on TV, he felt around blindly for clothes, finding them in a pair of jeans and a Transworld shirt.  'What day is it…?' he wondered, looking around.  

"HEY MOM!" he yelled, his voice still a bit scratchy.

'Parents not home today…were home yesterday…drinking by noon…playing Ozzy 'til 2…must be Monday…'

He rubbed the remnants of sleep from his eyes, standing and grabbing his skateboard from the hook on the wall.  He didn't bother to turn his TV off as he made his way toward the front door.  

"Food…" he muttered.  There probably wasn't any in the house yet.  There really wasn't much of anything in the house.  Just masses of boxes piled up on the walls.  They had gone to the Happy Family Chinese Eatery down the street, and eggrolls didn't sound so bad right about now.  He pushed open the front door, stepping outside and closing it behind him.  He felt his foot slip out from under him, just barely maintaining his balance.  Muttering a quick curse, he looked down to see…an envelope.  Looking over, he confirmed that they still had a mailbox before picking the envelope up.  It was addressed to him;

Aaron Burton

'Weird…no return address…' he thought to himself, flipping it over and opening it.  Inside was…surprise, surprise, a letter…and a plane ticket?  And money?  

"What the…?"

He dug out the letter.  It read:

Aaron,

You have been cordially invited to the Osiris 'Armageddon' tour.  Enclosed is a plane ticket to Tokyo, Japan, and money for a cab to the airport.  You can expect to see pro skaters Jason Dill, Rodney Mullen, Geoff Rowley, and Mark Applegate, among others.  Your plane leaves today at noon., and there will be a limousine there to pick you up.  We hope to see you there.

Sincerely,

GR

'Well,' he thought, 'this couldn't get much more surreal.'

He made his way back inside, leaning back onto the door.  A moral dilemma had overcome him.  On the one hand, he could go to the exhibition, then suffer the wrath of a mother who hasn't known where her only child has been for about 3 days, or he could stay here, get some eggrolls, and count the days 'til school.  Didn't have to be a genius to figure that one out.

He packed only what he needed…change of clothes, toothbrush, skateboard, and a book.  He used the phone to call YellowCab, and within 10 minutes, it had pulled up outside of his house.  He locked the door, and walked down the driveway, climbing into the backseat of the taxi.

"Airport," was all he said.

And they were off.

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Tei could hardly contain his excitement.

He had walked out the door to get the paper, only to find a small envelope in it's place.  It contained a brief letter, a plane ticket and 100 dollars.  The letter basically stated that RokkaCo publishing, in Japan, had seen the first two chapters of his story, 'The Endless', on FanFiction.net, and loved it.  They wanted him to come to Tokyo right away for a meeting about publishing the full story.  The plane left at noon.  There would be a limo at Tokyo International to pick him up.

It had taken him 10 minutes just to find his keys, and another half an hour deciding what clothes to wear to the meeting.  He stuffed them into a black duffel bag, grabbed the full version of 'The Endless' sitting next to his bed, and made his way out the door.  

He was on the road now; had been for about an hour.  He still had about 30 minutes to go before he got to Hartford Airport.  "Ha," he said, laughing to himself, "Four to six years my ass!"

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Jessi wriggled uncomfortably in her seat.  She had never been a big fan of flying; in fact, she almost had a heart attack when the plane lifted off.  Every slight bump of turbulence made her cringe, and she wished she was old enough to drink.  Adjusting her glasses, she glanced down at a small Polaroid of her two ducks: Panic and Cricket.  She reached into her pocket and dug out the small, folded letter she had received that morning.  

She had been invited to take part in the Yu-Gi-Open, an international tournament with a 200,000 dollar purse.  Add that to a free trip to Tokyo, and it was an offer she just couldn't refuse.  

'Eh, you won't make it very far,' a voice in her head said, 'I bet you bomb in the second round.  Why are you even invited, anyway?  You aren't that good.'

"Shut up, Voi-Chan!" she muttered, sweeping her hand up as if shooing the voice out of her head.

Glancing around, she realized there were only a few other passengers on the plane.  Five, by her count.  All kids, like herself.  One was flipping through a large stack of papers that looked like a script or something.  Another had a skateboard in his lap, making random adjustments here and there.  Still another was sleeping.

'Sleep…Sleeeeep!' Voi-Chan said hypnotically.

"Quiet you," Jessi shot back, "…Though…I am tired…eh…got a long way to go…might as well."

She pushed the lumpy seat back as far as it could go, pulled the itchy blanket up to her chin, and drifted off to sleep…

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(A/N: Sorry this chapter was so short, but I wanted to get an even distribution, if you know what I mean.  This chapter is Tei and Jessi and me, and next will be Cat, Tal and Nik (the reason being they won't be getting home til the 19th…or something like that), so don't expect another chapter until late August.)


	2. Dude! This is Some F***ed up S*** right...

(A/N:  I'm sorry.  I just couldn't wait.  Things are about to get hectic around my house, so I figured I'd better release a new chapter for this now.  I took some liberties; I probably wouldn't change much even after Tal and Nik got back and filled out the questionnaires, but guys; if you want me to change anything, don't hesitate to email me and tell me about it.  I'm all about accuracy ^ ^  That said, enjoy chapter 2 of Tokyo-To Reborn!)

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It wasn't until about 7:00 a.m. Tokyo time when they landed.  The pilot came over the intercom, rattling off Tokyo's weather forecast, and other random facts.  Honestly, she couldn't care less.  

Maddy had barely been able to sleep on the long flight.  She continuously drew out the small, one-paragraph letter she had received earlier that afternoon, as if confirming that it actually existed.  Her brother, Nik, seemed to be more relaxed, though.  

He slept the entire way.

"Get up, Nik," she whispered, poking at him.

"Eh…no…go'way…5 more minutes."

"We're there, lazy.  Now hurry up."

It took about ten minutes, and the other passengers were already well off the plane before the two siblings had recovered their carry-on and began to walk down the carpeted tunnel and into the warm air of Tokyo International.

Not two seconds later, the pair spotted a short, balding Oriental man, dressed in a chauffeur's outfit and holding up a small sign with two names written in marker.

MADELINE   NIK

They approached the man, introducing themselves.  He smiled, asking them to follow him as he made his way out into the parking lot.

The man stopped near a black limousine, opening the back door and ushering them in.  Moments later, the engine purred to life and they were on their way.

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The sun was well on it's way to the middle of it's destination when the 'last two' were shown to their seats.  

'Brother and sister' he guessed blandly, letting out a sigh.  "Mind if you tell us what we're here for now?" 

"Patience, Daniel," the voice answered back.

The six of them sat in black chairs, arranged in a semicircle around a large wooden desk, a chair positioned behind it turned towards the wall.

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to my humble abode." The chair turned slowly, revealing a tall, well-built Japanese man, dressed in a black tuxedo.  His hair had abandoned it's topmost stronghold, and now took refuge on the sides of his head.  His eyes…they held a certain…creepiness.  Like he'd smile politely at you, and two minutes later order your death.  'But,' he thought to himself, 'maybe I'm overanalyzing just a tad.'

"My name is Rokkaku.  Goji Rokkaku."

A kind of mental gasp flooded through them.  A mixture of disbelief, alarm, and 'This is a joke, right?'.

"You have been gathered here to take part in an experiment, of sorts."

"What kind of experiment?" one of the kids asked skeptically.  Tall.  Brown hair.  Glasses.  Invader Zim shirt.  

"I'm so glad you asked, Anthony," the man responded, an eerie smile chiseled into his worn face, "As you may have been able to tell, I'm very blessed financially.  I have all the money in the world.  But what is money without power?  

For the last few years, my elite team of scientists have been working on a way to transmutate things.  Turn them from one thing into another."

"You mean, like turning a dog into a cat?" the kid, Anthony, asked.

"Not quite.  I mean turning it into fiction, in a way.  Perhaps it's best if I show you."  The man reached across his desk, tapping a small red button.  "Fuji.  Bring her in."

Moments later, a side door slid open, and a tall, heavy-set man entered, dragging along behind him…a cartoon?

The girl was a little over five foot, with waist-length, dirty blonde hair.  She looked scared; and rightfully so.  Her body looked as if an artist had gone insane.  Small blotches of flesh still remained, but most of her body was…cel-shaded.

"I'd like you to meet Carolyn Dekker.  Or, as you know her, BansheeCat."

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'I was creeped out before,' Aaron thought, his eyes widened at the girl, 'but this is getting fuckin' warped…'

"Ah, speechless, I see," Goji said, still smiling, "As you can see, Ms. Dekker is…well, to put it bluntly, a little under the weather.  She was the most recent test of my transmutation gas.  The test didn't go as well as I might've hoped.  But not to worry, ladies and gentlemen, it has been perfected for you.  The mutation will be total…not incomplete, like Ms. Dekker here.  

"W…why us?" Aaron found himself asking, nervousness sweeping over his face.

"Still haven't figured it out, have you…Lotus?  While I won't go into many details about your purpose just yet, allow me to say that you all know each other."

He pointed at each one of them, one by one.  "Tallulah…Nik…NoiseTank13…Jessi a.k.a Crash…Tei…Lotus"

He smirked.  "You will help me to create a perfect city…Tokyo-To…right here in real-world Japan."

"Well fuck that!" NoiseTank practically yelled, jumping to his feet, "Whatever the hell you did to her, I want you to un-do it, and let us the fuck outta here!"

"Tsk tsk…so rude.  Well, unfortunately for her, the process is as yet irreversible, and as for letting you out…I'm afraid I can't do that.  Fuji, if you please."

The man came out of nowhere, knocking Tank back into his chair with a blow to the jaw.

Goji held up a small remote, pressing the button with exaggerated ease.

Metal arms shot out of the seats, binding the six of them tightly into their chairs.  Lotus twisted his neck as far as it could go, able to see Fuji calmly incapacitating them, one by one.  He pressed a small tazer into each of their necks…finishing with Lotus' own.  

He felt a sharp pain flow through his body, and just as quickly, he was out.

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She knew what they would all go through.  How they had all been lured here.  The same had happened to her.  Letter shows up, promising what you've always wanted.  On top of that, a free trip to Tokyo.  Who could pass that up?

She hadn't.

And now she regretted it every day.

She was driven to Rokkaku's office.  Knocked out.  Taken to some sort of laboratory.  She didn't remember much.  Scientists looming over her.  

'God, please don't let me die…'

White gas flooded into the room.  Pain.  Oh, God the pain.  Like being burned alive.  Turned inside out and thrown into a tub of peroxide.  

When she woke up, there were more scientists…talking about 'failed experiment' and 'back to the drawing board'.  They threw her into another room.  Like a cell.  Bed.  Toilet.  Mirror.  Blanket.

For so long, she didn't dare to look into the mirror, afraid of what she had become…what that hideous white gas had turned her into.  In fact, when she did see herself, it was an accident.  She thought she had slipped into a video game.  

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw some sort of cartoon.  

By the time she realized she was looking at herself, it was too late to turn away.  Her body was a mess of colors, as if someone had splashed paint on her.  But it wasn't paint.  It was as if parts of her were…animated.  

And now here she was.  Displayed like some sort of animal in front of these kids.  If Rokkaku was telling the truth, it was the other authors from FanFiction.net.  _If _he was telling the truth.  

She watched helplessly as they, too, were knocked out.  Carried out.  They would soon be freaks.  Like her…

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The next few days were one big, drug-induced blur.  As soon as he woke up, a whitecoat was beside him, injecting more crap into his arm.  His vision got hazy, the whitecoat turned funny colors, and he was out again.  

Soon, the line between dreams and reality began to blur as well.  He couldn't be sure…

"Tei," a voice whispered, "Tei…wake up."

His eyelids felt heavy…too heavy to open.  He answered with a moan.

"Hey, I think he's awake."

He managed to open his eyes a bit…enough to see dark outlines.  People surrounding him…looking down at him.

"Where am I?"

"…we don't know…"

"What happened?"

"Open your eyes and see…"

He opened his eyes the rest of they way, staring up into the face of…

"What the fuck?!?"

Tei kicked his legs, scooting desperately back into a wall.  Before him were…video game characters.  No, this couldn't be.  He had finally lost it.  After all those drugs, he'd finally snapped.  Fantasy and reality had blended together perfectly, now, and he was on a permanent acid trip.

"Whoa, Tei," one of them said, holding up a hand, "It's me, Nik.  You need to calm down.  You're alright…just chill out."

"Chill out?!" he yelled incredulously, "you want me to chill out?!?  A bunch of Jet Set Radio characters want me to chill out?  And how the hell am I alright?!?"

"Might wanna stand up and go check yourself out in the mirror, big guy."

He clambered to his feet, walking cautiously to the mirror on the wall, keeping his eyes set on the characters.  Gazing into the mirror, he saw…another one.  But…this one looked just like him.  Same clothes.  Same hair.  Same face.  He reached up and ran a hand along his cheek, amazed as the kid in the mirror did the same.

He couldn't breathe.  He whirled around, pinning his back against the wall.  Sinking to the ground, he gasped for air.  This couldn't be happening.

But it was.

'How?' his mind screamed at him, 'how the hell can people become cartoons?  What the fuck is going on here?'

"Don't worry, Tei.  We all took it pretty much the same way." Nik told him, still holding up an arm.

"I'm a…cartoon."

"We all are."

"Who…?"

"Rokkaku."

"Fucking impossible…this is real life.  This isn't a damn video game, Nik!"

"Well, regardless," said one of the others, "we need to figure out how to get out of here."

"And fast."


	3. Whooped by Themselves

(A/N: YAY!  Luckily for me, school gets out at 1:45, giving me plenty of time to write.  ^ ^ Always a good thing!  Chapter 3!  HOOOO!)

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The room was pretty big, actually.  The size of a living room, with 3 beds lined up on one wall, and 4 on the other.  It worked out to be guys on one side, girls on the other.  The door was stainless steel, with a small, barred opening; just enough to look through.  There was also a window on the opposite side of the room.  It was covered with bulletproof glass; thick, too.  They had taken turns trying to force their way through it, and had only gotten sore limbs for their effort.  It was kind of awkward, being stuck with strangers in a room; kind of like Big Brother.

Fortunately, introductions had been worked out days ago.

The little guy.  Thin.  Kinda muscular.  Spiked blond hair.  Glasses.  That was Nik.  Jessi hadn't quite got him pinned yet, but he seemed pretty calm most of the time.  Maybe it was shock.  Maybe he was just mature for his age.

Then there was his sister.  Maddy.  Pretty name.  She was…well, quirky was the best way to put it.  Very nice.  Pretty.  But there was just something…well, quirky, about her.  One of those people that could go from calm to hyper at a moment's notice.

Tei.  Ol' Tei-Sama.  Disk the GG.  He was different than Jessi had pictured him.  Tall.  Sandy-brown colored hair, glasses, like Nik, and a goatee starting on his chin.  He had taken the transformation pretty hard.  Took him about twice as long to wake up as the rest of them, and it had taken him days to become fully "celled".  It was as if his body had rejected the change.  Even now, he spent most of his time on his back

Then there was Banshee.  Long dirty blonde hair.  Rust-colored eyes.  One of Goji's "earlier experiments", now a jumble of half-real half-animated parts.  Like some sort of game designer's Frankenstein.  It didn't seem to bother her anymore.  She refused to look in the mirror, though, and acted as if it were her enemy…like, if she didn't see herself, she was whatever she wanted to be.  Quite optimistic, Jessi thought…in a depressing sort of way.  She sometimes talked of her friend Rebecca, saying that she, too, was Goji's prisoner. 

NoiseTank13, too.  Dan.  Tall…very, very tall.  The King of Hentai.  And bondage clowns.  And general craziness.  Dan was different, to say the least, but in a good way.  Fairly excitable and kind of irritable, but that was to be expected.  After all, he'd just been transformed into a 3D Looney Toon, and he was now locked up with 6 other people.  Like some wacked out Real World.    

And Lotus.  Aaron.  He was sorta tall, too.  Kind of wirey.  Brown hair.  Sad, pale blue eyes.  Kind of like Tei, but without the glasses.  He spent most of his time pacing and muttering curse words in Irish.  Actually, he only knew two words, but he abused them quite a lot.

Last there was her.  Jessi.  She kind of went along with the descriptions of most of the others.  Long brown hair, tied back in a ponytail.  Brown eyes.  Glasses.  Average everything.  Kind of 'Jessi Plain and Tall', just without the 'tall' part.

Confinement was taking it's toll on everyone.  Nik and Tallulah weren't speaking at the moment; sibling rivalry or something like that, while Cat had stopped talking at all.  They had to get out of here.  And Tei, it appeared, had an idea…

 He wouldn't go into detail about it, simply telling them to keep 'playing along'.  Jessi wasn't quite sure what that meant, but she knew it couldn't be good.  She'd known Tei for a while on FF.net, but talking to someone on the computer was very different from real life.  

Whenever he talked about his idea, she saw a smile come over his face; the kind you see someone put on when they talk about how many wallets they've stolen.  A sort of proud malevolence.  She had a bad feeling about this…

"I'll tell you about it in the morning," Tei promised, grinning lopsidedly, "promise."

Jessi couldn't hide her curiosity, but she supposed Tei was right; in the morning…

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Maddy was sure she would've heard birds chirping if it weren't for the foot-thick soundproof plastiglass…it was morning…or at least she thought so.  She reached up, rubbing the last remnants of sleep out of her eyes as she sat up…

…And there, swinging from a  makeshift noose, was Tei…

Maddy heard a scream echo throughout the room, rattling her brain…until she realized it was her.

"Hey, where's the fi-oh, no…oh, shit…Tei!  Tei!"  

The others scrambled towards their hanging comrade, seizing his legs and trying to get him down.  Aaron ran to the door, screaming bloody murder…or rather, suicide, through the barred window.

The guard standing beside the door looked through the small opening, before scrambling for his keys.  He burst through the thick steel door, stopping under Tei and trying to help the others get him down.

Suddenly, Tei's eyes fluttered open and he let out an exasperated breath.  His face was a dark blue, and he hoisted his leg back, delivering a powerful quick to the guards face.  He stumbled back, blood running from his nose and lip as he fell to the ground, unconscious.  

"Get…me…down!" he yelled, exasperated.

It took a few seconds, but they were able to loosen the noose and free Tei.  He practically collapsed to the ground, laughing through laborious gasps.

"Told'ja…I had…a good idea…"

Forcing himself to his feet, Tei wearily inspected the incapacitated guard, producing a set of keys, and…a small black rectangle that had two curved metal prongs on the top…a tazer, he realized.

"And we're off!" Dan exclaimed.

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Fuji walked slowly into Rokkaku's office, holding his hat in front of him as if coming to apologize about something.

"Mr. Goji," he said, stammering a bit, "the kids…the experiments…they've escaped."

The tycoon's eyes narrowed at the large man, who shrunk back a few steps.  "How?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Well, umm…we found the guard there…he said one of the kids pretended to hang himself, and when he got in, they jumped him.  Grabbed his keys, and when he came to, they were gone.

"Is Project: Sanis complete?"

"Y-yes sir!  The subjects have been undergoing psychological conditioning for the past two weeks.  They are ready."

"Excellent…they can't have left the building.  I want you to send them after those kids…I expect results, and I expect them soon."

"Yes sir."

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"Oook.  Does anyone have any idea where we are?" Nik inquired.

"An office building," Dan said with a sigh, "More than that, I have no idea.  It's like this place was designed specifically to get you lost.  No signs, no stairs, no nothing."

"We've got to be going somewhere," Carolyn deduced, "so if we keep walking we've got to come to…something."

"A wall?" Tei asked skeptically.

"Death."

"Huh?" Aaron asked, looking to the others, "who said that?"

"Me."

They froze.  Slowly…they turned to see…themselves.

"And you are…?" Carolyn asked obliviously.  Obviously, she didn't see the resemblance.

"Betasiki…" Dan breathed.

The figure on the left bowed in mock courtesy.  His face…his height…his build…all looked almost identical to Dan's.  

They were all there.  Characters from their imaginations.  Their own embodiments of themselves.  Beta, Kell, Vampire-Nik, Speed, Jackal, Disk…fortunately, there wasn't one for Carolyn.

"How?" Maddy asked breathlessly.

Kell swept at the air with her hand, as if to say 'it doesn't matter'.  "You'll find out soon enough…once you're back where you belong."

"Florida?" Aaron asked nervously.

"Rokkaku." Jackal replied smugly.  

Dan raised his hand.  "I'm thinking 'fuck that'."

Beta chuckled maliciously.  "I'm thinking 'come along quietly'."

Tei scoffed, trying to seem unafraid.  "If we're so valuable to him, you wouldn't hurt us."

Disk grinned.  "He said we should do what it took to get you back…who's to say what'll happen?"

Dan stepped forward, doing his best to put on an 'I'm not scared' expression.  "We're not going, Beta."

Beta simply grinned.  "Alright…Dan."

Dan raised his fists, a bit awkwardly.  He swung a left at Beta, who ducked under it and planted a punch in the middle of his chest.  Dan was floored, falling backwards into the arms of a very surprised Nik.  He wasn't unconscious, but it was obvious that the punch hurt like hell.  Nik helped Dan to his feet, who clutched his chest wearily, glaring over at Beta.

"Ready to come along quietly?" Vampire-Nik asked. 

Suddenly, Tei rushed toward Disk, fist drawn back, screaming at the top of his lungs.  Disk caught the fist in mid-punch, veering it away and bringing a knee up to Tei's gut, who collapsed onto his hands and knees, coughing violently.  Disk smiled over at the others, before bringing down a violent chop into the back of Tei's neck, knocking him out.

None of that authors spoke…for entire minutes…simply staring down at Tei.

"Just one minute," Aaron said finally, taking a step back and motioning the others to do the same.  He herded them into a huddle, most of them facing their characters…no one wanted to be caught off-guard by them.

"Alright, let's face facts, here," Aaron said with a sigh, "They're obviously stronger than us, they can beat the shit out of us without breaking a sweat, and we're short one Tei.  Any questions?"

Dan raised a hand weakly.  "I'm thinking we go with them.  It feels like my chest is going to cave in any time now…"

"One vote for wussing out." Nik translated.

"We could run," Carolyn suggested, casting a quick glance back at the characters.

"No way," Maddy said, shaking her head, "if Goji made them stronger, they can probably run faster than us too."

"So then what do we do?" Jessi asked dubiously.

"Go down fighting," Aaron said grimly.

"Excuse me," Dan said incredulously, "did you not just see what happened to me and Tei?  We got our asses handed to us.  There's no way we can out-fight them."

"Well, it's better than 'going along quietly'," Aaron responded, a slow smile forming on his face.

Dan nodded glumly.  "Let's do this."

No one objected.

"Well," Nik said, "Let's not keep them waiting."

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End file.
